Vuelta a Espana 2009 – Cycling Weekly’s full coverage

The final grand tour of 2009, the Vuelta a Espana, kicks off on Saturday, August 29 in Assen, the Netherlands, with a short 4.8km opening time trial stage.

The race then spends the following three days travelling south through the Netherlands, before reaching Liege in Belgium on Tuesday, September 1.

After an early rest day on Wednesday, September 2 the race re-starts in Spain for stage five from Tarragona to Vinaros.

Despite the flat start in the Netherlands, its a route that favours the climbers. Climbers will have to wait until stage eight on Sunday, September 6, to stretch their legs. And it’s in at the deep end, with a tough 172km jaunt starting in Alzira and finishing atop the Alto de Aitana. Along the way there are seven categorised climbs for the riders to negotiate.

Of the eight mountain stages in the 2009 Vuelta, no less than five feature mountain-top finishes. Organisers Unipublic have gone all-out to silence the critics of last year’s ‘tame’ route.

Two individual tests against the clock are included after the short opener in Assen: a 30km test around Valencia on stage seven and the 27.8km penultimate stage around Toledo. Both are likely to play a decisive part in shaping the overall top ten.